Summary in English

The English page contains only this brief text about the author and his work. For further information, please visit the Greek or Spanish version of this site.

Pedro Olalla (Oviedo, Spain, 1966) is a writer, Hellenist, professor, translator, photographer and filmmaker, in which capacities he collaborates regularly with publishers and educational and cultural institutions from different countries around the world. For more than thirty years, he has maintained an intense relationship with Greece, where he engaged in Hellenism and where he settled in 1994. His main occupation is writing: he has published 30 original works of literary and cultural content in different languages, as well as a long series of journalistic articles and translations of Greek and Spanish authors, specializing in literature, archeology, history and the humanities overall. Parallel to the writing, he develops his teaching work as professor of translation, of Spanish as a foreign language, and of Greek language and civilization. Among the institutions with which he collaborates or has collaborated as a teacher in a more stable way are the Cervantes Institute in Athens, the Greek Parliament, the University of Athens ("Master in Translation Studies"), the National School of Public Administration of Greece and the National Research Foundation of Greece. In the journalistic field, he was director of the Cultural Bulletin of the Spanish Embassy in Greece and editor-in-chief of the monthly bilingual magazine "El Sol de Atenas", and during the last years he regularly publishes opinion articles on the political and social situation of Greece. As a photographer, he has made several publications and more than forty individual exhibitions in different countries; as a lexicographer, he is co-author of the "New Greek Dictionary" (ed. Texto), for which he worked for years, having earned a grant by the A.G. Leventi Foundation; as a researcher, he has been fellow of A. S. Onassis, A. G. Leventis, K. & E. Ouranis and Open Society Foundation, and he has collaborated as well with specialized publishers such as National Geographic, Thames & Hudson, Altaïr, Planeta, Road Editions, etc, as well as with different producers and television networks.

His works include the Mythological Atlas of Greece –a project sponsored by the Onassis Foundation and which was awarded a prize by the Academy of Athens, in the preparation of which he covered more than one hundred thousand kilometres in Greece, following the traces of the ancient myths–, the series of television documentaries Places of Myths –produced by Greek Radio and Television (ET1) for the Special Programme of the Olympic Games Athens 2004–, the documentary Nymphaeum of Mieza: The Garden of Aristotle –a visit to the place where the philosopher taught the young Alexander the Great–, the book Blissful Arcadia –a great imaginary journey into Western Civilization, in pursuit of the Arcadian element–, his last books Minor History of Greece –a historical and literary approach to the development and the survival of humanist attitude– and Greece in the air –legacies and challenges of the ancient Athenian democracy as seen from Athens today– and his last film In Company with Calliyannis, nominated for the “Best Doc Feature” at the Hellenic Film Academy Awards. In recognition of his work on Greek mythology and on promotion of Greek Culture, he has been appointed Ambassador of Hellenism by the Greek State, Associate Member of the Center for Hellenic Studies of Harvard University, Honorary Citizen of Kleitor (Arcadia), Chios and Oinousses Islands, and has been invited by more than 300 cultural, educational and media institutions from different countries to hold conferences, public events and information programs (Universities of Athens, Aegean, Macedonia and Thrace, Autonomous University of Mexico, University of London, Menéndez Pelayo International University, Onassis Foundation New York, Fulbright Foundation, Embassy of Greece in Sweden, TVE, RNE, Telesur, Channel 13 Argentina, etc.). As well, he was a candidate for the European Parliament for Greece (EPAM), a founder member and director of International Society for Arcadia and vice-president of the Onassis Foundation’s Scholars’ Association.

VEUS CCCB (25/5/2017)

"Political mindsets have much more to do with the live experiences of each generation than with age"Anna Punsoda. Interview with Pedro Olalla